Just curious as I was talking about this with one of MY best friends last night.

Now, obviously we will all say our spouse is our best friend, so that's a given. After that though.

I have a close core group of friends from college...but none of them live near me - so I don't see them very often...they were all my sorority sisters.

Here in Jax my two best friends are my BF from college (met our first day, first year), and my best friend from High school's Wife.

It's just weird how ppl come together

< 5, college

My best friend and I go way back from the 7th grade. Funny thing is, we were only ever at the same school for a year and a half, but we stayed close all throughout high school, college, and living abroad. Some of the friends I met in college I don't even talk to anymore. I still keep in close contact with several longtime friends, but everyone has slowly moved away.

My question is, what's the best way to meet new friends after formal schooling is over, especially after marriage?

It's hard. My other friends here I met through 1. My soccer team 2. The junior league and 3. My masters program.

It is definitely hard.

5-10 very close friends.

Met them a combination of ways. Met 2 of them through high school, 4 from church, 2 in the family(my sister and a cousin). Known them all for a very long time and we are still close and hang out regularly. Sujeet likes them all too, and they like him. They are all great.

Of course my hubby is one, but then there is Katie, Megan, Carrie, and Kate.

Katie I met in high school, Megan I met in college, Carrie I met at the diner my husband used to work at, and Kate I met at my old church.

I love each and everyone of them! But I only get to see Kate and Carrie more than twice a year.

I had friends in America. I haven't made any British ones, and I've been here since 2001. People here are just way too closed-off and structured.

I have been trying to figure this out too. I am going to be taking a few classes at the community college, so maybe I'll make a few there. After I got married I spend most of my time coming home after work or going to work with my husband because we don't spend enough time together as it is. Saturday afternoons are the only time I have to spend with friends, except for the occasional week day I get off work early then I try to get together with a friend. So hopefully my husband will get a better job and I will be able to spend more time with him and maybe start going to a book club or something.

I have three best girlfriends (one from college, two from grad school) and my beloved fiance.

I had 3 very close friends

One died after a routine op in 2000, we met when I was going to church.

One started dating my ex husband in 2001, and although I was pleased for them she couldn't handle it so broke away from our friendship of 20 years.

The last one was my friend of 26 years, she was like my sister in many ways, that friendship ended last year

So now I really am billy- no- mates....apart from my husband of course

I have 5 close friends. Two from college, one through one of the college friends, one from high school, and one is a sister in law. I'm a lot less outgoing than I was in school, so I haven't made any CLOSE friends since then.

I have 1 best friend since childhood. Hubby is "up there" too, but Camille knows more about me than he does, and we have never in our life had an argument. Odd? I hope not

My bestest friend ever was killed in a car accident...we and our families were extremely close since I was a little girl. I still see her mom & we keep in touch - go to lunch, etc, but I know it's hard for her to see me cos i was 1/2 of a pair...it's hard for me to invite her to things like my wedding, cos I'm so concerned at how she's seeing me do things her daughter never will.

My next closest friend and I had a falling out last year. We were friends for like 14 years. She had jealousy issues & always had to be in a competition with me. It was all about her...'If you don't fly home from England for my baby shower, I'll never speak to you again!' type shite...I finally told her to sod off after she never called me after the London bombings, knowing D was down to London all the time for work stuff.

My college best friend has become quite strange...she and I rarely talk just cos we're in different places in life. When we talk, it's cool, but it's like if we hadn't had the past to go on, we'd have nowt in common now.

I have several good friends at work, but I wouldn't say I could trust them with my deepest & darkests...

And strangely enough, I met my other awesomest bestest friend on here...now I know I'm all against *internet things* but at the same time, I aint marryin her don't get yer panties in a wad, I'm jokin! Anyways, yeah she has been my rock and just everything a friend should be It's really strange, cos we have EVERYTHING in common down to living in the same place, going thru similar experiences, etc....we'll say the same things at the same time...it's really strange that someone you've never met could have the same brain as you, lol 'they walk alike they talk alike...' crap I can't remember anymore of that song.

And of course, shout out to the man and my mom....my mom and I really are the closest we could be, and I consider her my bestest most bomb-biggety, absolute dog's bollocks/cat's azz friend ever

That I consider best friends, I can trust less than 5. It's amazing when you're young you can have like 200 friends but as you're getting older the number of people that you can trully trust and that you can count on drops a LOT. BUt I prefer the way it is. I wouldn't trade the few people I can trust nowadays with going back 10 years and having over 200 friends again, no no.

I have no best friends

I guess if family counts my aunt and hubby

Three of mine are school friends, scary to think we've known eachother 20+ years! One was a barmaid in a pub we frequented and one worked for me. My parents, sister and brother are my best friends too.

Over in the US, I would consider Dave's step mother a good friend and one of his friend's girlfriends called me her best friend this week, which was nice of her. She asked if they can join us for dinner next Monday to celebrate/comiserate our green card

I think there can be only one "best" friend. Although I have many friends I consider to be very good friends. Semantics I suppose....

1 great friend I can tell everything to, we spend time together as much as we can,etc (it's not easy nowdays because she moved 1 1/2 hrs away a couple years ago, but that's not really SO far and her parents still live down here, so she gets to me more than I get to her! We both 'have' so much on each other we would never dare breathe a word!! nothing too bad though! ) and 2 other really close friends. The first two I met through my job at the time, and the other I met when our kids were in 2nd grade together..they're in 8th now. She just moved too, but even closer...a year or two ago they built a house less than a mile up the road, so it's great! ...also a couple of people I consider really great friends I met on here, even though we've never met, don't live close, and may never meet... M.

edited to add: have to agree with Lisa on the moms thing...we speak for at least a few minutes every day just to catch up and I see her usually a couple times a week...I try not to dwell on 'weird stuff' but I can't help thinking every so often how empty my life will feel if life works out as normal, and one day she's not there to call! It makes me very very grateful for her...and my dad. I just have TERRIFIC parents! and luckily, in laws too. I can easily say I really wish we lived much closer, and mean it. Also, as Karo said, hubbys are automatically included!

My best friend of 15 years is of the opposite sex and we met in a resturant bar. We are now like extended family. One of my best friends is a guy that I used to work with. Maybe the coolest thing is that 5 of my closest friends are from high school and we still get together after 34 years, and it's like no time has passed, and we alway have a great time together. I am very lucky.

I have lotd of friends that are so important to me as I know I am to them. But real friends that I can always count on, and that I know will be a part of my life forever.... = or less than 5. I met most of them in high school.
My mom (she's amazing), dad(so is he...), sister (so is she), grandma (so is she) and David(so is he) are the bestest though.

2 best friends. One from age 9 the other from age 11. Looooong time.

I met my best girlfriend Claire in 7th grade, and we went to college together, but that friendship ended last year. Its' going to be aawwkkwaarrddd when we get together with our four other best friends from college next summer at a wedding...

Beyond Claire, I think I have about seven or eight really close friends. I am still extremely close with my first boyfriend and two of our male friends from high school, three more girls from high school, a girl who I traveled with in Ireland, and have become close again with my childhood best friend, who I would refer to as my best friend emerita.

I put a lot of time and effort into maintaining my friendships. Trouble is, they've moved all over the country/world... here in Minneapolis, I often feel friendless.

I have two friends. My best friend ever is my dog Sadie. She is dying of lymphatic cancer. I have had her on chemo for the last year. The first 2 chemo stopped working, now the third has stopped working. I will probably have to put her to sleep next week. Today we had our last road trip with my other best friend Lady. We followed the Clarks Fork river from Superior Mt. to Thompson Falls Mt. We stopped many places so the "good girls" could smell the woods. We bought some fast food. (What the heck, who cares about diet, she will be dead in a week). Then I went to the store and bought liver and cheap hamburger. Sadie like hamburger cooked then in water poured over her food. She will get her favorite dish the last week of her life along with the liver. Lady will get some too.

Lady is a very friendly pit bull. I would not have her but I was with a psychotic ex-girlfriend. I know all of us say are exs are psychotic, but Holly (God bless her) saw "Demon fuckers" and "Little Green Men". She is out of the institution now and in to a group home. Anyway, I inherited Lady from her. Lady is a good dog and we will help each other as we make it through the loss of Sadie.

My best friends are all family: my husband is my main best friend- I tell him everything and he is the one person I feel the closest to. I also include my mother and my 7 year old daughter as my other two best friends. Other than that, I feel close to my sister-in-law and my aunt. I would like to have a best girlfriend, but it is hard to find those sorts of relationships at my age (mid- 30's) and I have lived in three countries in the past 3 years, so that makes it difficult as well. Most of my girlfriends from high school and college buggered off when my eldest little daughter was diagnosed and then died from cancer- people can't handle that sort of thing.

Too many questions, too many choices... can't decide.

My husband isn't my best friend. He's my husband. If he were my best friend, who would I go to for advice about my husband?

Seriously though, to me "best friend" means best. As in the one and only. I have only ever had one at a time, or sometimes I've had none (I've known my best friend since high school, but she wasn't my best friend until about five or so years ago).

That's not to say that I don't love my husband and we tell each other everything and support each other a lot. But he's not my best friend any more than my best friend is my husband.

My best girlfriend and I met when we were 17. We worked as camp counselors in a little rural camp for kids and we just hit it off. We've been best friends ever since.

As for my bestest friend in the whole world, my Joel fits that description.